"Don't get me wrong, iOS is a beautiful and well-structured mobile operating system — but it's begun to show its age. It feels less useful to me today than it did a couple of years ago, especially in the face of increasingly sophisticated competition. I always have this sense now in iOS of not knowing where I am, what my status is — constantly having to load things and reload them. It feels tiring."

And this week, Kontra, a blogger focused on Apple and design wrote about iOS: "Apple software — especially its self-declared future, iOS — needs some serious overhaul both in aesthetics and experience, and far more in the latter department."

The good news for Manjoo, Topolsky, Kontra, the people in our office let down by iOS, and really anyone feeling let down by Apple, is that all signs point to 2013 being a big year for Apple and software.

Think about what has happened to Apple since September.

On the product side, it released a new iPhone, a new iPad, an iPad Mini, a new iMac, new iPods, and a new laptop, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

In the press release announcing the moves, Apple titled its release, "Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services." Astute Apple blogger John Gruber believes that's the plain truth. Apple made the executive changes so Apple's various divisions would work more closely.

On Twitter, Sammy The Walrus IV notes, "Logic (if there is such a thing) would point to 2013 being all about iOS with only minor changes to Apple hardware."

The hardware has all been refreshed. Unless Apple releases a TV, which is possible, we're not expecting much on that end. This frees up Apple and its new executive system to target the stale and in some ways broken software that's only been incrementally upgrading for the last few years.

Of course, with any big change, comes big risks. Look at what happened with Maps. Apple's executives could start tinkering with iOS and ruin it. But, at this point that's a chance Apple has to take. If iOS continues at its current trajectory it will be passed by Android in the software department sooner than later.

It's not sexy for investors who want to see big beautiful hardware that gets people waiting overnight in big lines. But for the future of Apple it's just as important.